JACKIE DRIVES DAY FOR DANIEL

Stu­dents learn about stranger dan­ger thanks to the Mor­combes’ book

AS SOON as a Childers mum fin­ished the last page of the Mor­combes’ book, she im­me­di­ately set about or­gan­is­ing ed­u­ca­tion for her daugh­ter and friends.

While read­ing the book, Jackie Bain­bridge said she asked her daugh­ter about stranger dan­ger and was shocked with her re­sponse.

Not only did her daugh­ter, Char­lotte, not know what to do, Mrs Bain­bridge said she had not been ed­u­cated on the topic at school ei­ther.

“I just thought, I’ve got to do some­thing,” she said.

Mrs Bain­bridge lived in Red­cliffe dur­ing the time of the ab­duc­tion and search for Daniel More­combe and now owns and lives at the Fed­eral Ho­tel.

“It was some­thing that we watched the whole time. We watched the case progress,” Mrs Bain­bridge said.

“Just see­ing those par­ents – when you’ve got kids of your own – just the way that they were. I know that’s how I’d be with my daugh­ter.”

Mrs Bain­bridge said the safety of her daugh­ter was al­ways at the top of her mind.

“We own a pub and we live in the pub. Our daugh­ter lives here with us so this is some­thing that I’m very aware of and I think a lot of par­ents are,” she said.

As she fin­ished the last page of the More­combes’ book, Where is Daniel?, Mrs Bain­bridge knew what she wanted to do.

The de­ter­mined mum met with her daugh­ter’s St Joseph’s school prin­ci­pal and or­gan­ised a Day for Daniel to help ed­u­cate her daugh­ter and fel­low stu­dents.

“I had a big list of ev­ery­thing and I took it to John and said ‘This is what I want to do’,” she said.

“I just think the kids need to know what to do, and the fact of what hap­pened with lit­tle Chloe here too when she got taken, I think there was a lot of par­ents that were con­cerned or wor­ried at the time.

“It’s just some­thing that you think about. You just worry about your kids.”

The ed­u­ca­tional ses­sion will be held on the na­tional Day for Daniel on Oc­to­ber 31. The chil­dren will wear red shirts in hon­our of Daniel.

Ms Bain­bridge said the ed­u­ca­tion day would in­clude a stranger dan­ger video and talk from a Childers po­lice of­fi­cer.

“I just think they should be ed­u­cated about what they should do and who they can go to for help if they’re ever in a sit­u­a­tion where they don’t feel safe,” Mrs Bain­bridge said.

PHOTO: MIKE KNOTT BUN190914DAN3

ALL FOR DANIEL MOR­COMBE: Jackie Bain­bridge with her daugh­ter Char­lotte Bain­bridge at St Joseph’s School. Jackie is or­gan­is­ing for the school to par­tic­i­pate in the na­tional Day for Daniel